The Saintess Candidate Celebration Banquet (3)
The banquet proceeded so smoothly it made a mockery of every anxious mile I had traveled to get here. Most of the noble houses that had journeyed from every corner of the kingdom had already arrived and taken their seats, and the murmur of conversation swelled until it filled the vast Royal Castle to the brim.
"Sister, eat some cake!"
Daisy held out a strawberry cake she had procured from who knew where — an elegant confection, the whipped cream piped into ornate patterns as though it were a work of art and crowned with a gloss of fresh strawberries.
"I'm not eating that."
"Huh? Why not? It's really good."
"...You eat plenty. I'm full."
The memory of the last time I had eaten fruit left sitting out a little too long — and the stomach cramps that had followed at once — came rushing back, and I waved her off. It had been the exact same fruit. Daisy had eaten it without a flicker of trouble. The moment I took a bite, my stomach started screaming.
Life.
"You have to eat something if you want to put any weight on, Sister. Come on, say aah. Aahh~"
Daisy scooped up a generous forkful of cake and held it to my lips.
"You're refusing because of the fruit, right? I'll eat the fruit. So at least try a bite of the cake."
"W-what am I, a little kid? You want me to go 'aah~' and let you feed me?"
"But if I don't do it this way, you'll just starve yourself again."
Daisy muttered under her breath, sounding thoroughly put out, as if I hadn't touched a single thing since we'd arrived at the banquet.
Well, of course I hadn't. Ever since I had come to this world, one wrong bite of food was enough to wreck me. On an ordinary day, if something disagreed with me, I could simply collapse into bed the way I always did. Right now, though, I had to stay glued to Daisy's side. I could not leave even the slimmest chance that she might be in danger. Which meant I had to be careful even with the water I drank.
"Come on, just one bite? It's really, really good."
"Ugh, I said I'm not eating it. The cream's getting on me...!"
She kept trying to cram the cake into my mouth, and whipped cream smeared across my lips again and again. Look, I understood that she wanted to feed me no matter what — but this was going too far.
"..."
Even that look of utter disappointment would not change my mind. Some things were simply not happening. All of this was one more thing I was doing to keep her safe.
"Hmph. Just you wait until you come begging for some later."
Daisy whipped her head away and stuck out her lower lip, making absolutely sure I knew she was sulking. Once she got like this, the mood could last a good deal longer than you'd expect — a genuinely inconvenient personality trait — so I patted her shoulder with the most apologetic face I could muster.
"I'm sorry. You know I'm not well. So just let it go this time..."
"Then when we get home, I'll bake you a cake myself!"
"...Huh?"
What had I just heard? Bake? A cake? You?
"You said you can't eat food other people make because it makes you nervous. Which means I have no choice but to bake you a homemade cake — one made just for you, right?"
In that instant, the image of that black... something from last time flashed through my mind. It had not been a chocolate cookie. It had not been charcoal, either. With a single mouthful, that thing had managed to reproduce both a heart attack and the agony of suffocation. I was truly sorry to Daisy, but it had long since ceased to be food. It had reached the realm of art.
"Th-that's..."
"What's wrong, Sister? You said it was delicious last time."
Daisy's expression was growing colder by the second. Tears welling in my eyes, I nodded up and down. Why did my otherwise flawless, beautiful little sister have this maniacal obsession with cooking, of all things? Should I not have reacted so positively last time?
"Hmph. I see. So Sister just prefers the cake I make myself over this fancy stuff, is that it? And here I was, completely in the dark~"
God. Heaven. No — this is another world, so, Goddess? Anyone at all. Please. Somebody stop Daisy.
Looking thoroughly satisfied, Daisy took the cake she had been smearing all over my face and popped it into her own mouth.
"Isn't that the cake you just rubbed all over my face? Isn't that dirty?"
"Hmm? Not at all."
...Was this girl truly a young lady of a noble house?
Fine. Just stay healthy. That was all I asked.
Watching Daisy devour the cake with such obvious relish, I let out a resigned sigh.
"You look a complete mess, Camil."
A familiar voice came from behind me. I turned my head. Calvin was walking toward us, a woman at his side.
"Dad!"
"Father."
"Honestly, you're hopeless. Wipe your face."
Calvin drew a handkerchief embroidered with the family crest from his coat and held it out. The fabric looked terribly expensive. Was it really all right to use something like this just to wipe my mouth?
I was diligently scrubbing the cream from my face when Calvin stepped forward, as if to introduce the woman standing behind him.
"This is Professor Lemiel of the Academy. Offer your greetings."
"...!"
At the name Lemiel, I flinched in spite of myself and looked at the woman before me.
Lemiel Daker. In the original story, she would become the homeroom professor for both the protagonist and Daisy — a 7th Circle Archmage who taught in the Magic Department at the Academy. In the original illustrations she had only ever appeared as a sharp, intellectual figure in a crisp suit and glasses. Seeing her now without the glasses, wearing an elegant dress, I almost failed to recognize her.
"Hello, Professor Lemiel!"
"Ah, hello."
"A pleasure. I'm Lemiel Daker. I teach in the Magic Department."
It was a short, concise greeting that fit the Lemiel I knew perfectly. To hold a professorship in the Magic Department — the most popular department at the Academy — meant she possessed backing and status that most nobles could not begin to match. Watching Father converse with Professor Lemiel as easily as if they were old friends, I was struck all over again by the realization that House Miseria was no ordinary great noble family.
"So this is the child. The genius girl who broke through to the 3rd Circle entirely on her own."
As if the title of Archmage had not been given lightly, Lemiel pointed to Daisy after a single glance — without Calvin having told her a thing.
"That's correct. She's still lacking, but would you take a look?"
"Take a look? Do you mean you'd like me to watch her cast magic?"
The conversation was veering somewhere strange, and I felt my nerves snap taut. Surely they weren't about to have her demonstrate magic right here?
But even at Calvin's request, Lemiel only studied Daisy with a faintly puzzled expression before shifting her gaze to me, standing quietly at Daisy's side.
"Hmm."
"Is there some problem with my daughter?"
"No. There's nothing wrong with this one. Her mana core is quite exceptional, and to have reached this level without any formal instruction — her talent is considerable. If she devoted her life to magic, it wouldn't be unreasonable to say she could aim for the realm of an Archmage."
Lemiel seemed far more interested in me than in Daisy. She circled me, examining my body from various angles, and let out a meaningful sigh.
"So this is the child. The one born with a broken mana core."
"...That's right. A mage of your caliber, Professor Lemiel — would you happen to know of a way to treat this condition?"
At that single cold, decisive sentence from Lemiel, Calvin, Daisy, and I all froze and stared at her face.
"...Pardon?"
"Ah. I was too blunt. I apologize. It's a habit."
"N-no, that's quite all right. It doesn't matter. But if it can't be fixed... does that mean she'll have to live like this for the rest of her life?"
Calvin looked as though he might collapse at any moment. Lemiel pressed her fingers to her forehead, seeming troubled, and answered him.
"Well. I'm not sure where to begin... Your daughter's condition is not simply a matter of having been born frail."
"What do you mean..."
Professor Lemiel slowly placed her hand near my heart and felt the rhythm of its beating.
Not a congenital problem. Which meant that someone had deliberately tampered with Camil's mana core.
"Who on earth would... and why..."
"That, I wouldn't know. Or I may simply have examined her incorrectly."
A moment later, Professor Lemiel withdrew her hand and stepped back behind Calvin again.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Daisy. And... Miss Camil. If you should come to the Academy as well, Miss Camil, I do hope we'll see each other again."
With that brief farewell, she vanished into the crowd.
In the original story she had been a spacey ice beauty who thought of nothing but magic all day long, but seeing her in person, she didn't seem quite so eccentric. And more importantly, the most crucial realization of all:
She's that beautiful, and she went around sealing her looks behind glasses and a suit...?
I should have known from the moment Yustia was the original heroine instead of Daisy. The author had absolutely no eye for faces.
"Haa..."
"What's wrong, Sister?"
"Nothing. I just... suddenly felt all the tension leave my body."
First Calvin had shown up with Lemiel and given me a shock. Then he'd tried to have Daisy demonstrate magic, which had been shock number two. Thankfully, nothing had gone wrong.
There wasn't much time left until the banquet ended. If it concluded safely and we made it back to the estate without a single incident befalling Daisy, that would be the first button fastened on the path to avoiding the bad ending.
"By the way, where did you even get another drink in that short time? Aren't you full?"
She had already eaten several cakes, and somehow there was still room in her stomach. Truly remarkable. Or maybe that was exactly why she was growing so well and putting on healthy weight? I had no idea.
"This? Someone I ran into in the hall earlier gave it to me."
"If you keep accepting food from just anyone like that, you're going to get sick one of these days."
Without thinking much of it, I glanced at the strangely colored fruit juice in Daisy's hand.
I had forgotten the most important fact of all.
The worst problems always unfold the moment you let your guard down.